Photos from around the farm

[Keren]

Just a few photos of the cattle out on the farm that I happened to get yesterday, thought some of you might be interested. Comments welcome as usual.

5yr old cow, ex show heifer, feeding a 2 week old calf

rising 2yr old heifer

bull, approx 12 yrs old. Has been one of the main herd sires, among others he has sired the 2yr heifer above, the chocolate heifer I've posted recently and the reserve champion bull of melbourne show. He is in pretty good nick for a bull of his age but his teeth are worn down so he needs a bit of supplementary feeding when the grass is so short . . . unfortunately the season means that feed is so expensive he will probably be put down in a few weeks time. Very sad, such a terrific, quiet old bull.

a couple of calves that were following me around the paddock as I was taking photos. Bull on left, heifer on right.

 

[Cowboy 2.0]

Why don't you send the bull to the sale and make some money?

 

[Keren]

Cowboy 2.0
Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2006 9:59 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Why don't you send the bull to the sale and make some money?

Partly for sentimental reasons, as he has been siring in the herd for the past 10 yrs and the majority of show winners and breeder cows are by him.

The other reason is the economics of it. I'm not sure how aware you are of conditions over here but grain prices are amazingly high but only 1 in 20 paddocks around here will actually yield grain. A lot of paddocks cannot even be cut for hay. Feed is scarce, so the market is absolutely flooded with livestock, which has lead to dismal prices for stock. Net result being if we were to send him off they could only take him midway through november (by which time I imagine he will be dead anyway without the feed) and livestock prices are excruciatingly low so with the cost of transport we would actually lose money.

Had the season been better he would have been kept -- he still joins all the cows and has terrific calves. Bottom line is we just can't get any feed. Excruciating decision and one I wish we didn't have to make.

 

[Bek]

Good looking animals Keren. And I know what you mean about the bull, I'm sorry that you have to put him down. He sounds like he's had a good run, and I most certainly know what you mean about feed at the moment.

 

[aplusmnt]

Sure is a bunch of hamburger there. Shame to loose it, could you guys just butcher him and eat him?

 

[*Cowgirl*]

beautiful animals keren

 

[Keren]

At the risk of sounding like a 'hobby farmer' (which I don't believe exist anyway) and getting abuse hurled at me, we don't really want to eat our main herd sire that has been with us for 10 yrs. Besides, we don't have the facilities to hang the carcase etc.

 

[sidney411]

What breed is that bull? What will you replace him with?

 

[Bek]

He's a Murray Grey isn't he Keren, doesn't look big enough to be a sqaure meater. And have the SM's even been recognised for that long.

 

[holly heifer]

We also had a good bull that we used for almost 15 years.
He sired wonderful calves with steller dispositions. We did not use him for the last 3 years of his life, he lived out his retirement very peacefully with an old granny cow. He died at
the age of 18 ( had a heart attack and just expired) we buried him in the far pasture. Granny cow was not so lucky-
she did go to the sale barn. ;-)

 

[aplusmnt]

You guys are nicer than me, I could not imagine passing up around a $1,000.00 or a years supply of hamburger for sentimental reason.

 

[tlmcr]

Very nice cattle, in good flesh for feed being short. I really like the 2 year old heifer.

 

[d6cattleman]

You guys are nicer than me, I could not imagine passing up around a $1,000.00 or a years supply of hamburger for sentimental reason.

Same deal here.
d6cattleman

 

[Texas26steerjock]

i love the hell out of that 5 yr old cow!

 

[boone]

Good looking cattle. Have seen many MG bulls in pictures. Is it just me or do they generally have a deeper meatier front shoulder than a lot of other breeds?? Produce mostly Angus/Gelbvieh cross, but I am really impressed with the MGs I've seen lately. Boone

 

[Australian Cattleman]

Nice cattle Keren. I know exactly how you feel about the good old bull. I couldn't stand to have to truck him to the meat works or into the saleyards. I had a 17 year old Brahman bull that I had to put down because he had become very arthritic. I still have some daughters of his. I had semen collected from him about 6 months before he died. The vet that processed the semen had recalled collecting and processing semen from this bull when he was a two year old. I purchased him when he was 10. He would have produced thousands of registered and unregistered progeny. I would have sired about 250 head in the seven years he was with me.Yes it is hard to end a good old bull's life or any favourite.
Colin

 

[Keren]

Thank you all for the positive replies. Yes they are all MGs. The bull will probably be replaced by one of his sons, the silver bull I posted a while back that was reserve at Melbourne.

aplusmnt
Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2006 2:37 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You guys are nicer than me, I could not imagine passing up around a $1,000.00 or a years supply of hamburger for sentimental reason.

Actually with prices the way they are here, it would be about $200.

The bull was bought at a dispersal sale, at 2 yrs old. The agent actually advised against it, saying he was only a 'fat old bull', and he was bought for only $2,500. Yet he has sired many show winners and stud breeders. We have collected semen for him, and have retained many of his daughters as well as a bull in the herd, so the bloodlines will continue.

Actually, that 2yr old female is by him.

Bek,

doesn't look big enough to be a sqaure meater

?????

 

[Bek]

Keren,
Woops, I meant to type doesn't look small enough to be a sqaure meater or looks to big to be one, something along those lines. Woops

 

[Victoria]

Really nice cattle. Thanks for sharing the pictures. I know what you mean about the prices being down. We have an old highland cow that should go but we were told that no one would buy her at the auction market.

 

[Keren]

Bek, I thought it might be something like that! :lol: :lol:

Victoria, prices here are dismal. Just last week there was a dairy farmer in the district who rounded up all his cattle, brought them to the saleyards, upon arrival he was told they couldn't take them. So he took them all back home, shot them and shot himself. Also the other day I heard at the sales, pens of lambs were going to $1 for the whole pen of 20 sheep. A lot of people here are feeding their cull stock to the dogs, because what with transport and everything, it works out better than buying dog food.